Tod am Rennsteig - Haus der Toten (2025)

At dawn, a masked figure moves through the rooms of a large villa, firing several shots. Only a young girl in the attic goes undiscovered. The unknown person flees on a dirt bike into the adjacent Thuringian Forest Nature Park. The next day, case analyst Jan Kawig and criminal psychologist Annett Schuster of the State Criminal Police Office arrive at the crime scene. Together with Marion Dörner, head of Operational Case Analysis (OFA), and public prosecutor Lisa Rossmann, they discover that the house apparently served as an operating base for the Calabrian Mafia organization ’Ndrangheta. The victims, murdered in cold blood, are two married couples: Toto and Ricarda Sardini, the owners of the house, and Toto’s half-brother Daniel Senn, who had also been living there with his wife, Claudia, for some time. Since the building also contains a restaurant that is not very profitable, the evidence points to money laundering. For this reason, Ludger Diehl, head of the Organized Crime (OK) division, claims jurisdiction over the case. However, because an earlier attempt to place undercover investigators had already failed, the suspicious prosecutor does not involve him in the investigation. During their inspection of the crime scene, Kawig and Schuster find 16-year-old Rebecca Senn, frightened by post-traumatic stress disorder, in a panic room. As a possible witness and the daughter of one of the murdered couples, she is taken first to police headquarters and later to Kawig’s guarded country house for her own safety. Jona Tauber, Rebecca’s concerned boyfriend, soon arrives at the crime scene. He worked as a waiter at the restaurant. Kawig visits Giovanni Rossi, the owner of his favorite Italian restaurant, Bella Ciao. Alarmed by the ongoing investigation, Rossi refuses to provide information about any possible background to the crime. When Rebecca is questioned, her account of events is incomplete because of dissociative amnesia combined with cannabis use. Flashbacks also reveal that her childhood was marked by neglect and abuse at the hands of her party-loving, drug-addicted parents, as well as sexual assaults by her uncle. Meanwhile, the forensic team finds high-quality counterfeit money in the villa. Impressions left by a hidden dictaphone also suggest that confidential conversations were secretly recorded. The precise motive nevertheless remains unclear. Motorcycle tracks lead Kawig into the forest to Maja Schorlau, the local forester. Footage from the trail cameras shows Toto Sardini meeting with an employee of the Bella Ciao restaurant, suggesting a business connection between the compatriots. Concerned by the escalating situation, Diehl, who apparently works as a paid informant, and Rossi discuss what to do next. Shortly afterward, and without the investigators’ knowledge, the head of the OK division pressures Rebecca, but Kawig’s attentive father steps in and cuts off contact. To reconstruct the crime, forensic scientist Sabine Limmer makes a wooden model of the villa. After another fruitless search of the rooms, Rebecca is brought to the villa to help her cope with her trauma. During the walkthrough, a motorcyclist shoots at the witness through a window. Meanwhile, a dog unit finds a backpack that Daniel Senn had buried in the forest floor, containing the incriminating audio tapes. They reveal that Rebecca’s parents intended to enter the lucrative business in order to extort others. Diehl’s voice can also be heard on the recordings. The investigators set a trap for their colleague: to lure him in, they spread a rumor that the tapes will be kept in Limmer’s safe overnight. During the subsequent interrogation, Diehl admits that he was involved in the case as a mole, but denies the murders. A detailed analysis of the recovered bullets gives Kawig and Schuster a new lead: the revised sequence of shots fired indicates that the perpetrator must already have been inside the house and therefore knew about the family’s criminal activities. Rebecca’s memories also return: beneath the dark helmet visor, Jona’s face is revealed. Out of hatred for the irresponsible family, he and Rebecca had planned the crime together. Further evidence is found in the apartment of Jona’s foster mother. When the police arrive outside the villa, Jona threatens Rebecca with a weapon. After he is overpowered, Schuster prevents the desperate accomplice from killing herself by firing a targeted shot at the weapon.